How To Recognize Important Warning Signs Of Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that distorts the reality of those who suffer from it by affecting the way that they think, communicate, express emotions and behave. Often schizophrenia is misconstrued to be a split personality or multiple personality disorder, whereas it is a psychosis that may include hallucinations or delusions among many other reality-altering symptoms. Those who are diagnosed with schizophrenia often have a difficult time functioning socially in school, at work, and at home as they usually have difficulty distinguishing the difference between what is real and imaginary.

What Is Schizophrenia?

One out of every hundred people develops schizophrenia, 2.2 percent of all Americans are diagnosed with schizophrenia. The development of the disease usually occurs after puberty, between the ages of sixteen and thirty. The severity and the symptoms vary immensely from patient to patient. Some patients may only experience one psychotic episode in their lifetime while others have psychotic episodes quite frequently, living ordinary lives between their episodes. Others may notice that their functioning decreases over time with minor improvement between episodes. Typical symptoms of schizophrenia can be broken into three categories, positive, negative and cognitive symptoms.

Positive Symptoms

Positive symptoms are not beneficial to the patient but are called positive because they are additional behaviors and symptoms seen in individuals who develop schizophrenia. The diagnosis requires the patient to experience two or more of the following symptoms for a minimum of six months: hallucinations, delusions, movement disorders, confused or incoherent thought and speech.

In some cases, bizarre hallucinations or delusions can alone suffice for diagnosis. Hallucinations can come in any sensory form; patients may hear voices, see or smell things that are not there. However, the most common reports are of auditory hallucinations. Delusions are different than hallucinations as they are not sensory-based, but false belief. Delusions come in many different themes; patients may believe that they are a messiah or that they are being stalked, spied on, tricked or hunted in one manner or another.